Closure for hermetically-sealed food-preserving cans.



B. H. KANNENBERG. CLOSURE FUR HERMETIGALLY SEALED FOOD PRESERVING CANS.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 15, 1908.

1,039,753. Paterited Oct. 1, 1912.

,Uiurnn sra'rns PATENT OFFICE.

BALDWIN H. KANNENBERG, or MAYWOOD, ILLINOIS, AssIcNon. TO AMERICAN cnnf COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

i To all whom it may concern:

more particularly to closures uniting the heads or bottoms and tops with the bodies of preserving cans by hermetically tight seams, without the use of solder. Heretofore great practical difiiculty has been experienced in making the folded or double seams which unite the heads to the bodies of food preserving cans hermetically tight, and much expensive experimenting has been done, and many different kinds of gaskets or packing have been employed between the seaming flanges of the'heads and bodies in the endeavor to procure a safe and reliable hermetically tight closure, without necessitating the use of a packing orgasket which will impart disagreeable or in urious taste or flavors to the food products in the can, or he of too expensive material or too diflicult and expensive of application for practical use, and which will not deteriorate by lapse of time, and which will not be injured in shipment-1f applied at the factory where the cans are manufactured.

he packing heretofore most generally in use, and which comes nearer to meetin all the requirements or conditions, is a pee ring composed of rubber cement or like composition, as set forth, for example, in the Max rims Patent No. 570,591. But this packing necessarily imparts some taste or flavor to the food contents, and being composed largely of rubber so deteriorates after a lapse of a few months, that; the cans are liable to become leaky and the food contents ferment or be destroyed. Another kind of packing now quite largely used consists in an'annulus of thin paper cut from a paper blank just the size to fit within the seamingrfiange of the can head or cover and furnished on one face with adherent material to cause it to stick to the flange .of the tin'plat'e cover while it is being-applied to the can body. But as paper will not stick with any"reliability or permanency to a tinned surface, it has been'found'necessary in practical operation to these; paper I CLOSURE FOR HERMETIClALLY-SEALED FOOD-ZPRESERVING CANS.

Specification of I Letters latent.

ring packings to the seaming flange of the coyer at the cannery or packing house, and this requires a large amount of additional Patented Oct. 1,1912. Application filed May 15, 1908. sci-151m. 432,986.

help at the cannery in the rush work of the packing season. And, in addition to this, the paper packing rings being very thin and flimsy, can only be practically applied by hand, thus making the work of their application slow and expensive. The paper ring gasket, however, has the advantage of being tasteless and of not deteriorating by lapse of time.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved construction of packing which will be firmly adherent to the seaming flange of 'the cover, which will be 'inexpensive,

which may be rapidly and cheaplyapplied at the can factory where the cans are manufactured, which will not be liable to injury or displacement during handling or shipment, which will be absolutely sanitary, tasteless and odorless, which will uniformly produce a. tight closure incooperation with the seaming fiange of the head and body, which will not deteriorate by lapse of time, and which also will cover the inner surface -of the curled edge of the seaming flange on the cover.

My invention consists 1n the means I employ to practically accomplish this object or result; that is to sayit consists 'in a can closure comprising a seaming flange on the can body and a seaming flange on the canhead or cover interfolded into adouble scam, the seaming flange of the cover having applied to its inner surface a firmly adherent and finely ground paper pulp film or coating applied in aliquid state and subsequently dried. The paper pulp is preferably made of rice paper, or of pulp such as is used in making rice paper; but it is preff'erably ground somewhat more finely than is ordinarily done in the manufacture of paper, so that the pulp will flow as freely and form when dried a continuous film or coating of uniform thickness over the entire interior surface of the head or cover.' The 1 paper pulp preferably contains' an admix ture of resin and glycerin to give a greater body to the dried film or coating, and; to;

fiepder it more firmly adherent to'th'etinned' surface of the seaming flange. Alcohol, water or other suitable ,solvent, capableof being evaporated or dried out, may be'employed to give the paper pulp the required fluidity or consistency to enable it to be flowed upon the seaming flange of the cover, or applied thereto after the manner in which a paste or paint is applied to other surfaces.

7 dried out from the pulp, thus leaving the seaming flange of the cover coated on its inner surface with a thin, dry, hard, slightly elastic and firmly adherent flowed paper pulp coating covering not only the horizontal mner surface of the seamlng flange but also the innersurface of its curled edge.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a central vertical section of a sheet metal preserving can of tin plate having a closure for its heads or bottom and cover embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is an inverted-plan view" of the cover before it is seamed to the body; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the head,or cover; Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view of the double seam closure; Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing a number of the covers stacked or nested together for shipment; Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the cover illustrating .the method of applying the liquid paper pulp thereto; and Fig. is a sectional view illustrating the drying step or operation. I

In the drawing A represents-the sheet metalpreserving can, represented as comprising a tin plate body 13 having a seaming flange'b, and upper and lower heads D havingseamlng flanges d interfoldedinto a double seam 'O with the seaming fla e of the body. 'The seaming flange d of the head- D has a curled or curved outer edge d which forms a packing channel D with the shoulder d of the head D which fits inside the end ofthe can body. The seaming flange d of the head 1) has on its inner or under surface a firmly adherent, hard, dry, slightly elastic film or coating of paper pulp F, said.

coating extending overthe inner surface of the curled edge d of the cover flange, as

- well as continuously over the under surface of-said cover flange. The paper pulp coating or paking F is flowed into the channel D of the head seaming flan e while said head is rotated under a nozz e E through which the li uid paper pulp is discharged.

The head D uring this operation is preferably turned by arotatin chuck G, upon WhIOh it is supported. T e channel D? is preferably substantially filled with the liquid paper pulp, and then the head D with its channel D thus filled with liquid paper pulp is passed onto a carrier H having shelves h, and conveyed through a drying chamber until the alcohol, water or other solvent em loyed in the paper pulp to render it fluid is driven 011?, thus leaving the coveril) with ahard, dry, slightly elastic paper pulp coating or film F of uniform thickness extending cgntinuously over the entire inner surface of the seaming'flange,-

including the curled edge 0Z 2 The coating or packing F thus produced-is indestructible or not subjected to deterioration by lapse of time, and is also tasteless and odorless and absolutely sanitary and free from any jurious quality or characteristic while at t e same time'in cooperation with the seaming flanges of the head and body it enables hermetically tight scams or closures to be produced with certainty and uniformity.

The curled edge at of the seaming flange of the cover not only serves as a guard to protect'the coating or packing F after it is applied, to handling and shipment of the heads when they are stacked or nested together, as it prevents the adjacent cover from touching or coming in contact with the packing, but 1t also serves to form the outer wall of the channel D to confine the liquid paper pulp packing in place when it is first applied andduring the subsequent drying step of the process.

The addition of resin, or other adhesive substance in the paper pulp, to increase the body 'of the packing F and render it more firmly adherent when dried, serves also to increase its. strength, and is preferably ap plied in the melted'form and thorough portion of about one ounce of the resin and six ounces of the ground paper pulp, to

y mixed with the liquid paper pulp in the prowhich is added and thoroughly mixed therewith six ounces of glycerin and eight and one-halfounces of alcohol. The paper pulp before being mixedwith the glycerin, resm and alcohol is very finely ound, this being preferably done by running it through a paint grinder, or other like fine pulverizing apparatus, at least twice. The addition of the glycerin to the ground paper pulp and resin renders the dried and completed packing "softer .and more elastic and prevents cracking or brittleness, and adds to its strength.- v w -My paper pulp packingis odorless, taste-' less, and free from injurious qualities and thus produces a perfectly sanitary closure.

I claim: i 1. As an article of manufacture,a can head having its curled seaming flange provided on its inner face with a firmly adherent, thin,

hard, dry, durable, slightly elastic, flowed, paper pulp coating, the inner face/of said coating conforming to the adjacent face of the cover flange and hermetically united thereto, substantially as specified.

.2. As an article of manufacture, a can head having its seaming flange provided on its inner face with a firmly adherent, thin, hard, dry, durable, slightly elastic, flowed, ground, paper pulp coating containing an adhesive admixture, the inner face of said coating conforming to the adjacent face of the cover flange and hermetically united thereto, substantially asspecified.

3. As an article of manufacture, a can head having its seaming flange provided on its inner face with a firmly adherentthin, hard, dry, durable, slightly elastic, flowed, paper pulp coating containing an admixture of resin to renderit more firml adherent and give it greater strength an body, the inner face of said coating conforming to the ad'aoent face of the cover and hermetically united thereto, substantially as specified.

4. A head for double seamed cans having a seaming flange coated on its inner face with a durable paper pulp packing applied thereto in a l.q uid state and dried thereon, said packing being a thin, hard, dry, slightly elastic film and firmly adherent to the metal surface of the seaming flange, substantially as specified.

5. A head for double seamed cans,.having a seaming flange coated on its inner face with a durable paper pulp packing applied thereto in a liquid state and dried thereon, said packing being a thin, hard, dry, slightly elastic film and firmly adherent to the metal surface of the seaming flange, the seaming flange of said head having an outer curled edge to protect the packing when dried and to confine it while drying, substantially as specified.

6. Asan article of manufacture, a can head having its seaming flan e provided on its inner face with a firm y adherent, thin, hard, dry, durable slightly elastic, flowed, paper pulp coating I mixture of resin and glycerin to render it more firmly adherent and give it greater strength and body, the inner face of said coating conforming to the adjacent face of the cover flange and hermetically united thereto, substantially as specified.

7. As an article of manufacture, a can' head having its seaming flange provided on its inner face with a firmly adherent thin, hard, dry, durable, slightly elastic, flowed, paper pulp coating containing an admixture of resin, glycerin and alcohol to render it more firmly adherent and give it greater strength and body, the inner face of said coating conforming to the adjacent face of the cover flange and hermetically united thereto, substantially as specified.

8. In a sheet metal preserving can of tin plate, a can head having its seaming flange 1provided on its inner face with a firmly aderent, hard, dry, slightly elastic, flowed,

containing an ad-.

paper pulp coating, substantially as specified.

BALDWIN H. KANNENBERG. Witnesses:

H. M. MUNDAY, PEARL ABRAMS. 

